The present invention relates generally to headscarves, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a headscarf with an integrated headband made to cover a wearer's head.
Headscarves have been in use throughout time as witnessed by references from religious texts and other historical accounts. Headscarves have been and are still worn for a variety of purposes, including warmth, hygiene, fashion, religious affiliation, to cover baldness, to protect the wearer from damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and for social and cultural significance.
In addition to the aforementioned uses, individuals who are bald or are suffering from hair loss are increasingly using headscarves. Reasons include medical hair loss from treatments such as chemotherapy, which is on the rise as the worldwide incidence of cancer increases. In addition, there are autoimmune diseases such as alopecia, which cause baldness. Moreover, more people are using headscarves while riding motorcycles, driving convertibles, and pursuing outdoor activities, which require protection from the sun.
Standard headscarves have many common problems. For example, standard scarves are often made of smooth, soft fabrics, such as silk, polyester, jersey, for example, so that they feel comfortable next to the wearer's head. However, because these fabrics are smooth and, therefore, lack texture, they can easily slip off the wearer's head, which can cause the wearer inconvenience, embarrassment, damaged hair, or the like. This is a particular concern for those who suffer from medical hair loss or wear headscarves for religious purposes.
One solution to keeping headscarves in place is with the use of pins and/or clips. However, these pins and/or clips are cumbersome and can cause pain to the user when they rub on the user's head. Also, these pins and/or clips can cause damage to the fabric of the scarf.
Another solution to problems associated with a standard scarf is to pre-tie one or more components of the scarf to help keep the scarf secure on the user's head. However, this limits the wearer's ability to style the scarf in a manner best suited or desired by the wearer.
Wigs offer another solution to cover one's head, but they can be uncomfortable and hot as they are oftentimes made of synthetic materials. Those that are made from non-synthetic materials are oftentimes expensive and result in an unnatural appearance.
One head covering is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,574,208, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This head covering is a combined headband and scarf, wherein the headband is provided with fasteners to be secured around a user's head. Moreover, the headband is placed at nearer to one corner to create unequal (smaller and larger) triangular sections to cause the scarf to fall in a particular pattern. As such, the styles that a wearer can create using this head covering is limited.
Another head covering is shown in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0000011, which is also hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This head scarf contains a headband provided closer to one corner of the headband, to create a large main sheet and short sheet portions. Again, a disadvantage of this scarf is that the headband allows only for particular configurations to be created by the user and requires fastening means to be used to secure the headscarf over the user's head.
While these headscarves partially address the problem of securing the headscarf on a user's head, these headscarves do not allow for easy manipulation of the headscarf to create different styles in accordance with the purpose and desire of a user.